Upgrades on tap for Towpath Trail

The Stark County Park District is a step closer to closing one of its two remaining gaps along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. That step also will help connect the trail between Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Activity on the portion of the trail in northern Tuscarawas County is expected to increase with facility improvements in Bolivar.

The Stark County Park District is a step closer to closing one of its two remaining gaps along the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. That step also will help connect the trail between Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

Activity on the portion of the trail in northern Tuscarawas County is expected to increase with facility improvements in Bolivar.

Groundbreaking is expected in May at Fort Laurens State Memorial for new flush toilets and possibly a solar-powered charging station for hikers to recharge their telecommunications devices. There will be two stalls and a sink in the separate men’s and women’s restrooms.

The project is in the design phase, and it will be advertised for bids from contractors within 60 to 70 days, according to Dee Grossman, director of the Tuscarawas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which manages Fort Laurens. Work should be completed by Labor Day.

“Having public access to flush toilets adjacent to the trail is going to be perfect for hikers coming in off the towpath trail,” she said. “The building also will feature a visitor’s center with brochures and information about attractions in the area. The building isn’t going to be staffed, but will be open during daylight hours.”

There is a $100,000 budget for the entire project, she said.

Depending on the bids from contractors, the facility project could include the solar-powered charging station for devices, such as smartphones, iPads or Kindles. The request for that came from the Tuscarawas County Park Department after hikers expressed interest, Grossman said.

The Stark County Park District’s Board of Commissioners and the Stark County commissioners recently each agreed to buy a 0.297-acre property for $5,500 from Tenia and Garry Sears at 10624 Shepler Church Avenue SW in Bethlehem Township. County commissioners also agreed to sell a 0.166-acre piece of county-owned land to the Sears for $300.

Stark Parks will use state and federal grant money to reimburse county commissioners for the purchase.

NEW BRIDGE

Stark Parks Director Robert Fonte said the park district needed the sliver of land so it could build a short trail leading to the new bridge that will span the Tuscarawas River and will connect the towpath trail between Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Roughly 25 miles of the 110-mile towpath runs through western Stark County before going into Tuscarawas County, where there is about 10 miles.

“Currently, the trail ends near Zoarville, but supporters are hopeful that in the future it can be expanded along the canal route through New Philadelphia and farther south,” Grossman said.

Fonte said the new 260-foot-long bridge that will be built south of Shepler Church and north of Fort Laurens State Memorial is estimated to cost $900,000 with state and federal grants covering all but $140,000 of it. He said the Stark County Park District has set aside $35,000 for the project and foundations and donors in Stark and Tuscarawas counties will cover the remainder.

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Fonte said the Stark park district will seek bids for the project in roughly two weeks and expects the project to be completed in roughly 18 months.

He was happy to see the project move forward.

“This project has been actively worked on for probably eight years,” he said.

He said the park district had to move forward with the project this year or it would have lost some of its grant funding. That urgency also a primary reason the park district and commissioners agreed to a last-minute price increase — from $2,000 to $5,500 — to buy the Sears property.

“It was cheaper to pay the higher amount than to fight over it,” Fonte said. “We didn’t have time to do another appraisal.”

OTHER TRAIL GAP

The only other section of the towpath in Stark County that remains unfinished is at Lincoln Way, south of the Lake Avenue trailhead, in Massillon. Park officials hit a snag when the Norfolk Southern railroad company denied the park district access to cross its railroad tracks.

Fonte said a project that will reroute the trail around the railroad tracks is in the design phase. He hopes it could be constructed sometime next year. It’s expected to cost about $800,000.